In many surgical and medical procedures, an irrigator is employed to deliver fluid to a particular location on or in the body of a person receiving medical attention. For example, during orthopedic surgery, an irrigator is employed to deliver pressurized pulses of water or saline solution to an exposed surface of the bone in order to clean the bone. There are also some non-surgical procedures performed which likewise make it desirable to apply pulses of water to a specific site on an individual's skin. Thus, if an individual is suffering from some type of bed sore or some other type of skin wound, it is a common practice to use an irrigator to clean the wound prior to applying a dressing to the wound.
A common type of medical/surgical irrigator includes a handpiece to which a tip assembly is selectively attached. Inside the handpiece is a small pump that periodically delivers a quantity of pressurized fluid. Also internal to the handpiece is a motor that drives the pump. The fluid is discharged through a discharge tube integral with the tip assembly to the selected site on or in the patient. These irrigators deliver fluid in pressurized pulses for two reasons. One reason is that fluid pulses quickly strike the site to which they are applied and leave the site; this action fosters the desirable removal of debris from the site. Secondly, the discrete fluid pulses do not obstruct the view of the site as much as it can be obstructed when exposed to a continuous flow of pressurized fluid.
Most irrigator handpieces, in addition to having a conduit through which the sterile fluid is discharged, have a conduit through which the discharged fluid is removed from the site to which it is applied. Typically, the fluid is initially withdrawn from the site through a suction tube, also part of the tip assembly. The fluid, as well as any debris in the fluid stream, then flow through a conduit integral with the handpiece. The handpiece suction conduit is connected to a second suction tube that is connected to a suction system separate from the irrigator. Thus, given their ability to essentially simultaneously clean a site on a patient and remove the debris generated by the cleaning process, it should be readily apparent why irrigators have become useful tools for facilitating many medical and surgical procedures. One such irrigator is disclosed in the Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,494 PULSED IRRIGATOR USEFUL FOR SURGICAL AND MEDICAL PROCEDURES, the contents of which are explicitly incorporated herein by reference.
Many available medical/surgical irrigators work well for the purposes for which they are designed. One particular disadvantage is associated with the cost of providing these irrigators. For an irrigator to be reusable, it must be able to withstand the rigors of autoclave sterilization. In an autoclave sterilization the irrigator would be subjected to an atmosphere saturated with water vapor (steam) at a temperature of 110° C. or more and at a pressures of 180 kPA and higher. It is expensive to provide an irrigator with internal components able to function after being placed in this type of environment. Furthermore, it has proven difficult to clean, decontaminate and sterilize the conduits integral with an irrigator through which the irrigating fluid is discharge and the fluid and waste extracted by the suction process is withdrawn. Accordingly, presently many irrigators are provided as single-use disposable units. These units have proven costly to manufacture because they include both a pump and a motor that drives the pump.
One solution to reducing the costs of these irrigators is to provide a console with the irrigators. Internal to the console is a motor. The motor drives a pump. Since this console is located outside of the sterile field, the console and its components are not subjected to the rigors of autoclave sterilization. The irrigator, essentially a handpiece to which a tip is attached, is removably coupled to the console by a set of tubes. These pumpless and motorless irrigators are less expense to provide than irrigators that include these components. Some of these irrigator systems actually predate irrigators that include pumps and motors. One such assembly is disclosed in the Applicants' Assignee's U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,046,486 and 5,269,750 the contents of which are explicitly incorporated herein by reference.
These irrigators have their own disadvantages. Specifically, these irrigators require their own consoles. Thus to use one of these irrigators it is necessary to add another unit, an irrigator console to the surgical suite. Having to provide this console adds to the cost of outfitting the operating room. Alternatively, a facility can have less irrigator consoles than it has operating rooms/treatment rooms in which an irrigator may be used. This would then require the medical personnel to ensure that, prior to the start of the procedure in which an irrigator will be used to ensure that the console for the irrigator is in place. If the console is not in place, effort must be spent setting up the console prior to the start of the procedure.
It has been suggested to use a powered surgical tool to power a medical irrigator. One known system includes an adapter that extends forward from the body of the tool. The adapter includes a gear assembly that converts the rotary motion of the shaft integral with the tool motor into a reciprocating motion. A pump is removably attached to this adapter. This system eliminates the need to provide each irrigator with its own motor. However the known version system is believed to be relatively heavy and bulky. For example, the power tool, which must be held and positioned, typically with just one hand, can weigh in excess of 1 kg. Having to hold and position this tool with a single hand can make the system ergonomically difficult to use. Further, if the practitioner needs to hold the tool steady, such as at specific surgical or wound site for anything more than one or two minutes, the practitioner can start to experience muscle strain and fatigue.